East Spotlight | Mustangs too strong for Hornets

Featured image: @floyd.mallon

Billy Parsons and Will Cranston-Lown combined for 38 points as the Maitland Mustangs made it three wins in the past four NBL1 East matches with the 102-84 home win against the Hills Hornets.

The Mustangs did come into the match up at Mojo Homes Center after a loss to the Newcastle Falcons while Hills arrived having lost their past four matches.

Maitland then made a strong start with 32 points in the first quarter with 12 of those from Cranston-Lown to set the tone for the rest of the evening before they completed the 18-point victory to improve to 5-5 on the season.

>> EAST WRAP | MEN'S ROUND 7

It was an impressive offensive night from the Mustangs with them finishing up shooting 53 per cent from the field with 10/22 from downtown and 12/14 at the foul line up against the 41 per cent shooting from the Hornets along with 7/31 from deep despite 13/15 at the charity stripe.

The Mustangs have now won three of their past four matches with Billy Parsons putting up 19 points, eight rebounds and two assists while shooting 8/13 from the field.

Will Cranston-Lown had 12 points in the first quarter on the way to 19 for the game with five assists, four rebounds and two steals with 8/12 shooting and going 3/6 from downtown.

Reyne Smith also had 16 points and two assists, Daniel Millburn 12 points and three rebounds, James Beavis 11 points and two boards on 3/5 shooting from behind the arc, and Myles Cherry nine points, nine rebounds and six assists.

The Hornets are now 3-7 following the loss with Shaun Stewart fighting valiantly with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists with 4/5 three-point shooting.

Meekness Payne also contributed 18 points, five rebounds and two steals, Ned Carr 10 points, 10 boards and four blocks, Jacob Foy nine points and two rebounds, and Ben Williams eight points and three boards.

The Mustangs and Hornets were both trying to get back to winning and it was Maitland with the better of the start with Will Cranston-Lown with 12 first quarter points to help them to the 32-26 lead by quarter-time.

It was a hot start from the Mustangs shooting 72 per cent from the field with 4/7 from deep while the Hornets were also going at 62 per cent to stay in touch.

The Mustangs completed a 14-0 run into the second quarter and that saw their lead balloon to 16 points and that's where things sat by half-time with the 58-42 advantage.

Cranston-Lown didn’t add to his 12 points in the second term but Reyne Smith was up to 12 and it both his three-point attempts while as a team the Mustangs were going 7/11 along with 65 per cent overall.

The Hornets shooting 2/14 from three-point range themselves by half-time didn’t help their cause in trying to stay in contact.

Maitland's lead continued to grow through the second half and got out to 20 points in the third quarter and 27 in the fourth before they secured the 18-point win to steady their season at 5-5.

The Mustangs have the quick turnaround to staying at home to host the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles on Sunday with the Hornets next in action against that same opponent next Saturday.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 8

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 102 (Parsons 19, Cranston-Lown 19, Smith 16)

HILLS HORNETS 84 (Stewart 22, Payne 18, Carr 10)